Photo taken on Jan 4, 2019 shows the Chengdong Service Area in Huzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Three giant cranes were busy lifting containers at the ANJI-SIPG International Port in Huzhou, Zhejiang province, on March 30. Huang Shaoyuan, general manager of the port operator, told local media that the port transported over 30,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) since February.

The fast recovery was helped by a discounted logistics price for import and export companies—a reduction of 50 yuan ($7.06) per TEU, which is only one example of the city's efforts to facilitate the construction of a busy transportation and logistics hub in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD).

In recent years, Huzhou has been making use of multiple resources to build a comprehensive hub in the YRD and a western gateway to the Shanghai metropolitan region, with investments in the transportation sector reaching record highs.

In the past year, the local government has invested over 17.57 billion yuan in transportation and logistics-related projects and was granted over 2.95 billion yuan in provincial and national subsidies. Forty major projects are currently ahead of schedule.

In the provincial evaluation of transportation management for 2019, Huzhou ranked third among all cities and county-level cities in Zhejiang, winning 4 million yuan in funds for further logistical development.

"Including the special fund, we will invest over 20 billion yuan in transportation upgrades and expansions and aim for a total of 117.8 kilometers of railroad," said a spokesperson for the municipal bureau of transportation.

Annual railway TEUs are expected to increase by 30 percent to a total of 5.42 million tons, waterway TEUs are expected to exceed 550,000 and possible reach a record 600,000, and the cargo throughput of Huzhou port is expected to reach at least 120 million tons.

With Shanghai in the east, Hangzhou in the south, and Nanjing in the west, Huzhou expects to see growth in its private sector once the planned projects, including logistics industrial parks and bonded logistics centers, are completed, according to a spokesperson.